The addition of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast means scheduling changes and could spell the end of some long-preserved rivalries.
The University of North Carolina and North Carolina State have met on the basketball court twice per year every year since 1920 – that 92-year home-and-home series will no longer be guaranteed under the league’s new scheduling model.
Capitol Broadcasting’s 99.9FM The Fan ESPN Radio and 620AM The Buzz have combined forces to bring attention to the loss of such a big rivalry game.
“We get that college sports is big business but there’s certain things you should not mess with, and the traditions of Tobacco Road are about as high as you can get,” said Operations Manager and Program Director Jason Dixon. “We’re doing our best to draw attention to what we feel isn’t right.”
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| The 99.9 The Fan & 620 The Buzz rolling billboards hit the streets of the Triangle starting Tuesday, Feb 21st, to promote their Save the Rivalry campaign. |
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Once Pitt and Syracuse join the league in the 2012-13 season, the basketball schedule will consist of 18 conference games, using a “partner” model to guarantee certain annual home-and-home series’ – UNC and NC State will not be partners. Team’s schedules will rotate through the other 12 schools in four-team packs for home-and-home series’ every three years.
North Carolina will partner with Duke, so that rivalry – which also dates back to 1920 – will stay intact. The Wolfpack will be partnered with Wake Forest, which means that UNC and NC State will only be guaranteed to play each other once a year.
The radio stations have launched a facebook campaign on SaveTheRivalry.com requesting fans in favor of preserving the rivalry to ‘like’ their page and leave comments about the change in schedule.
Fans can also interact with the twitter account @stateuncrivalry and use the hashtag #savetherivalry when discussing the change.
NC State and UNC will played the second game of the 2011-12 season Tuesday night at the RBC Center with an 8 p.m. tip-off. The game aired live on WRAL-TV.
Thanks to WRALSportsFan.com for this capcom story & graphic & to 99.9 The Fan/620 The Buzz for these capcom photos.
